New Beginnings || PURPLEPHONE

Chapter 1

     The silence was starting to bother him.

     He was used to living on his own at that point, as he'd been since he graduated high school. He said goodbye to his parents and moved out of his home in New Jersey, going all the way to live in Hurricane, Utah, to start a life of his own.

     Scott enjoyed the feeling of independence more than anything. He adored being able to care for his first pet; his pet hedgehog he named Oreo, that he'd found as a wounded baby outside one day. However, he enjoyed having his first job and making his own money even more.

     For some reason, now was when the silence was starting to annoy him. 

     The sound of his own footsteps was all he heard nowadays. Occasionally, the low sound of the television or some music could be heard coming from Scott's bedroom. But otherwise, it was quiet.

     This morning was particularly the worst Scott had felt in a long time.

     He rolled himself out of bed and stood up, dragging himself to the bathroom and looking into the mirror. His hair was sticking out in all different directions, and he had stubble on his chin, which he decided to leave alone - he really wasn't that great at shaving, and he didn't want to go into work with a cut on the side of his face. He had dark circles under his even darker brown eyes.

     He brushed his teeth and ran gel through his hair, slicking it back. When he was done in the bathroom, he went back to the bedroom and pulled on a baggy button-up blue shirt and black jeans, along with black and white sneakers he had. He glanced at himself in the mirror for a few moments. Not bad, Scotty.

     Yeah, he often had to give himself talks like that to try to boost his self-esteem.

     It usually didn't work out.

     He heard a soft squeak coming from the cage on his bedside table. He wandered over towards it and a smile spread on his face. "Oh, sorry, Oreo. I almost forgot. Let me feed you."

     Scott went down to the kitchen and cut up some fruit, bringing it upstairs and putting some of it into the hedgehog's food bowl. He watched his pet walk over and sniff the pieces of apple, chewing on them. Satisfied with this, Scott grabbed his keys and the name tag on his dresser.

     He pinned the tag to his shirt and stretched his arms out to get rid of the ache in his shoulders, saying goodbye to his pet like he usually did in the mornings before he headed off to work.

     He worked at the one place, the very famous Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria - the place that had been in the news several times in the past year, and not necessarily for all good things.

     The restaurant that had been created before the one he worked at had been called Fredbear's Family Diner. The youngest son of the co-owner of the company (co-owner being named William Afton, or so Scott was told; he'd never once met him) had gotten caught in the mouth of one of the animatronics, and his frontal lobe of his brain had been crushed.

     Scott had been horrified when he heard the story. The poor kid was only six when that happened, and he had eventually died from his injuries. Henry, the true owner of the Fazbear company, was now the boss of where Scott worked. He put Scott on technician duty, testing the animatronics before the day started and fixing any problems, but he was too scared to get near the damned things.

     Scott shuddered at the memory and got into his car, starting to be on his way towards the pizzeria. He really wasn't in the mood to go to work, but he knew once he got there he wouldn't mind so much. He'd been working there for three years at that point, and he was used to his friends teasing him. He had even finally gotten used to Vincent, somehow.

     He walked into the restaurant and clocked in. He heard movement and voices in the office, so he knew that the others were all there already. He began to walk back until he felt an arm around his shoulders and heard someone call out, "Heeey! Scotty-boy!"

     "Mike! Don't do that, you scared me!" Scott yelped and shoved the other male off of him.

     "Hey, sorry," Mike apologized, though Scott knew it wasn't real. "You're easily scared, so I thought I'd jump at the opportunity."

     "Next time you do that, I'm going to tell the manager and have you fired. I'm good friends with him, you know," Scott pointed at Mike, then stuck his tongue out. "Bite me, baldie."

     "You know I'm insecure about my hair, Scott!"

     With a grin, Scott began to walk away. "What hair?" He bolted into a sprint, towards the office. He jumped into the spinning office chair before Mike could grab him. "Nope, base, Can't get me."

     Both Jeremy and Fritz, who had been in the room when Scott ran in, were now laughing. The four men in the room were in fits of laughs and giggles until someone cleared their throat.

     "What, are you all children? Really?" Vincent walked into the room, arms folded over his chest. "Scott, Mike? Are you playing tag or something?"

     "Of course not," Mike shook his head and stood up, grabbing Scott's wrist and pulling him up as well.

     "I was," Scott shrugged. "This place needs some fun. I need a reason to not hate my job."

     "Eh, you're right," Vincent draped an arm around Scott's shoulders. "We could use a little bit of fun around here, Scotty-boy. But the shift's about to start, we don't really have time for this."

     "You're right,"  Scott nodded and he heard a small bell ring at the front of the restaurant when the door opened. The first customers were here, and all the guards groaned in unison.

     Time to stop playing and start working, I guess.